Morris Daily Herald
September 17, 2004
By Jo Ann Hustis
Herald Writer
WARRENVILLE — A citizens group wants public input in the federal funding process for the proposed three-county
Prairie Parkway.
“The Illinois Department of Transportation has done a good job informing the public during the informal pro-cess
regarding the proposal,” said Jan Strasma, chairman of the non-profit Citizens Against the Sprawlway, which opposes
the planned beltway from Interstate 80 in Grundy County to Interstate 88 in Kane County.
“Yet, when the critical transition takes place, not telling people how to participate in the process — that’s not
right,” he said today.
Strasma said today the Federal Highway Administra-tion announced in the Fed-eral Register on Sept. 10, the agency
will work with IDOT on an Environmental Impact Statement regarding the Prairie Parkway.
The EIS is required for federal funds to be used on the parkway.
Strasma said the EIS begins the formal decision-making process to build the parkway or, perhaps, some other solution
to the problem.
“It’s the transition from the informal study process to the formal process with legal requirements,” he noted.
Formation of the EIS also signals opponents such as CAS and the public at large must now give their objections
to the parkway formally, or risk those issues being ignored in the future, Strasma noted.
However, the notice in the Federal Register indicates no public meetings are planned, although a scoping information
packet will go to those who make the request, he said.
The only meeting regarding the EIS will be for government officials. It is to be held in Ottawa on Wednesday, Oct.
13, Strasma added.
He said CAS, one of the 14 member-organizations that make up the Prairie Alliance for Sensible Transportation,
is asking IDOT and the FHA to arrange for public meetings in Kane and Kendall counties to describe the scoping
process and public participation in formulating the EIS.
Strasma said the Prairie Alliance Thursday mailed letters requesting the meetings to IDOT Secretary Timothy Martin
and FHA Director of Field Services Alan Steger.
The letters note the first step in preparing the EIS is the public scoping process to set the ground rules and
describe the playing field.
“National Environmental Pol-icy Act regulations require that ‘there shall be an early and open process for determining
the scope of issues to be ad-dressed,’” the letters note in part.
Instead, the FHA and IDOT, through the Oct. 13 meeting in Ottawa and distribution by request of the scoping information
packet, have planned a very narrow approach to the scoping process, the letters said.
“The government must make sure the public understands its important role in the process and be involved in the
EIS scoping from the very beginning,” the letters added.
Strasma said he was disappointed the FHA “quietly began the scoping process without telling anyone, and also not
holding public meetings to tell the public how they can get involved in the process.”
He said IDOT has always been willing to meet with CAS and other organizations in the past, for which he commended
the agency.
“I have no complaints about their willingness to meet or listen to comments,” he said.
“They dropped the ball, though, on meeting on the formal scoping process. Scoping lays out the ground rules — the
issues that need to be covered, so it goes from information gathering to a much more legal process.
“If you don’t raise issues during the scoping process, they say you can’t raise them later,” Strasma added.
“This (EIS) is a vital part of the process and really sets the tone and the procedures for raising issues both
for and against the parkway.”
The Prairie Parkway would intersect with Interstate 80 about three miles west of Minooka.
The opponent groups claim the parkway is not necessary; that other alternatives exist, such as widening Illinois
47 to four lanes; that valuable farmland will be lost forever to construction of the parkway; and that landowners’
rights in the corridor are being ignored.